Fifty Shades of Grey as told by The Dom

After discovering that none of his audience has actually read Fifty Shades of Grey despite hundreds of requests for it, The Dom provides a handy synopsis of the plot with only the bare minimum of angry freak outs.

10 comments

Thanks since I’ve never read it. Before this video all I knew is she’s interviewing the dude, there’s a sex contract, and they fight at the end of the book. It sounds like a book full of Mary Sues and that’s coming from a former Twilight fan. Also, it doesn’t sound as funny as I thought it would be.

It actually is. The fun doesn’t come from the characters-It’s not a hot pink 80’s bodice ripper- but from the writing itself. Erika takes herself seriously and it is hilarious to read her nonsense. Plus, it is genuinely one of those books that is a sheer delight to rip a new one with a critique.

The sheer downer part comes from the women in the real world who genuinely loved this book; That will suck the wind out of your sails swiftly. I feel nothing but heartbreak over any woman dumb enough to genuinely have this book speak to her on any level. It’s not romantic; It’s not erotic; It’s not an intended character study of toxic relationships: It’s just garbage.

I’ve read the first chapter of the book on my own steam and followed detailed reviews of the rest on Jenny Trout.

It’s BAD. Really, REALLY, bad. Erika Leonard (I refuse to call her E.L. The woman will always be Norma Jean Baker) is a terrible writer, in every conceivable way: Her story is all over the place; She repeats herself ad nauseam; She researches jack; Her prose is heinous; She shows an obsession with, but little regard for, her subject matter or the people who do take pleasure from it in real life.

I haven’t read the books themselves, just a thorough sporking of the first and most of the second (got bored after the most sympathetic character aka the supposed antagonist left the picture), but a lot of the things they highlighted are things the Dom also noticed. That’s good vindication.

BTW, the sudden emergency with the company that Grey had to deal with near the end of the book could have been related to his humanitarian work in Darfur. Because the book brings that up earlier on and heaps praise on him for helping the crisis. Using a real life crisis to butter up your romantic lead, that’s quite tasteful, no?

Especially how one situation is handled, when Grey is all “crisis on the ground? Airdrop it then, problem solved.” There had been a similar situation in real life where people got captured trying to bring supplies to refugees, so having the male lead wave it off like that felt insulting.

Dom, just something real quick. I agree that 50 Shades is terrible, but I have an issue with you implying that there’s something wrong with someone who doesn’t feel sexual attraction or doesn’t masterbate. That’s called asexuality and many people (like me) identify as such. So when you said that Ana must have skipped puberty if she hadn’t felt it, it feels like you’re implying that there’s something wrong with people who are asexual.

I do think there’s a problem with Ana’s lack of sexuality at the beginning of the book, but that has more to do with the overall story. Mainly, that Ana feels no sexual desire until The One comes into her life and she never feels attraction towards anyone else. It plays into the idea that asexuals just need the right person (and sexing) to become properly sexual. Which, while possible (stuff like demisexuality exists), is not guaranteed. What’s more, since the author clearly doesn’t know about asexuality (to be fair, many other people don’t), nothing is said about Ana being such or trying to figure herself out.

Actually, now that I think about it, I’d like to see what a romance between a kinkster and an asexual would turn out. That would actually be more interesting.

I wouldn’t have an issue with the book if it was clear about its fetishization of unhealthy relationships rather than pretending to be an accurate portrayal of BDSM. But I guess “The rape fetish book” doesn’t make for a good slogan.

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